Cynthia Martin

Mixed Media:

Oil, Acrylic, Automobile Clear Coat, Woven Paintings, Collage

LANDSCAPE AS METAPHOR

I was raised in the San Fernando Valley, then a rural paradise. We watched pristine fields gradually become covered with tract homes, freeways, and shopping malls. The landscape has since played a role in my life and in my art.

The themes of my work stem from angst about the vanishing natural world, and I use fragments of landscape to evoke concepts of memory and loss. Large paintings of ominous clouds make a statement of warning. Sidebars of bright colors scream for attention beside canvasses of anemic skies, implying the fact that we have “extracted” from nature its essential elements to feed the voracious appetites of our ever-consuming society. My small sudoku paintings, as well as those using random numbers, suggest that we play games with our environment even as it is disappearing. The magic squares (inspired by Escher) symbolize the preciousness of what is left.

The purpose of Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour is to promote the interests of professional artists working in Santa Barbara and to increase public awareness of Santa Barbara as an important destination for art and culture.